NIATx: The Network for Improvement of Addiction Treatment Establishes Itself

A national resource center on quality in addiction treatment

Problem Synopsis: Millions of Americans have difficulty accessing treatment for addiction, substance abuse, and mental health problems. While some barriers, such as limited funding, are beyond the control of treatment agencies, there are also systemic and programmatic barriers agencies can control if they have the tools to do so.

Synopsis of the Work: NIATx, based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, used RWJF funding to establish itself as a national resource center to promote quality in addiction treatment. The center sustains the work of two previous RWJF national programs (Paths for Recovery and Advancing Recovery) by making the quality improvement tools produced under those programs available to addiction treatment providers nationwide.

Key Results:

NIATx has sustained itself as a resource center to help community-based addiction treatment providers improve their organizational performance. Since its RWJF grant ended in 2011, a diverse set of public and private funders have supported its operating budget of approximately $2.4 million.

Treatment providers nationwide are using NIATX resources. Some 3,000 addiction treatment centers around the country used materials available from an updated NIATx website. The Resource Center section gives providers access to toolkits, training videos, and other material to help them apply process-improvement strategies.

Training and networking programs developed under Paths to Recovery, Advancing Recovery, and other RWJF-funded initiatives have been sustained. These include the NIATx Change Leaders Academy, annual summits, and coaching services.

Prior to NIATx, no national resource center existed to help community-based addiction treatment providers improve their organizational performance.

Other organizations provide information on addiction, but NIATx is unique in its focus on process improvement," said NIATx Co-Deputy Director Todd Molfenter, PhD.

In 2012, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) selected NIATx to serve for five years as the national coordinating center for the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network.

This assignment "would not have happened without RWJF's support for NIATx as a national resource center," said NIATx Co-Deputy Director Todd Molfenter, PhD.

Related Websites

Some 3,000 addiction treatment centers around the country used materials available from the NIATx website to adopt its model of process improvement. Centers using the model were located in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.